This is a list of notable events in Latin music (i.e. Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking music from Latin America, Europe, and the United States) that took place in 1995.
January 20: The Los Angeles Police Department raided a piracy business in a San Fernando Valley area and confiscated 55,000 Latin music cassettes worth an estimated $500,000 (1995 USD).[2]
The Mexican peso crisis sets off an uncertainty for Latin music, as regional Mexican music remained one of the biggest music genres and could have negatively affect Latin music as a whole.[4] Due to the crisis, EMI Music Mexico began reducing stuff, becoming the first Latin music company to do so.[5]
February 11: Little Joe and La Mafia decided not to attend the 1995 Tejano Music Awards and spoke out against the organization for what they believed to be a faulty voting process.[5]
March 4: The A-Z directory of the Hot Latin Songs chart debuts in Billboard magazine.[10]
March 17: The first annual Chilean Music Awards is held in the Chile de Santiago Stadium.[11]Andean band Illapu won the most awards including Song of the Year, Best Group, and Best-selling Chilean Album of the Year.[11]
March 31:
American Tejano performer Selena is shot and killed by Yolanda Saldívar, her friend and former manager of the singer's boutiques.[12] The impact of the singer's death had a negative impact on Latin music, her genre—which she catapulted it into the mainstream market—suffered and its popularity waned following Selena's death.[13][14][15] It was called an end of an era, as the Tejano market's "golden age" ended and never recovered.[16]
During the aftermath of Selena's death, the state of Texas cancelled all concerts that were scheduled for that day.[17]
April 1: Beginning with the April 1, 1995 issue of Billboard magazine, the weekly column of Latin music called "Latin Notas" began incorporating a column dedicated to the Music of Chile spearheaded by Pablo Marquez of the El Mercurio.[7]
April 4: American disk jockey Howard Stern mocked Selena's murder, burial, and mourners, and criticized her music. Stern said "Spanish people have the worst taste in music. They have no depth." He then played Selena's songs with gunshot noises in the background.[19][20] After an arrest warrant for disorderly conduct was issued for him, Stern made an on-air statement, in Spanish.[21][22] The League of United Latin American Citizens found Stern's apology unacceptable and urged a boycott of his show.[23]
April 8: Jose Antonio Eboli succeeds Jorge Undurraga as general manager of Sony Music Chile.[11]
April 15: Rodolfo Castro, Danny Barrocas, Gustavo Méndez, and Anthony Gonzalez founded Miami indie label Radio Vox, releasing its first maxi single by Fulano de Tal titled "Revolucion".[24]
April 29: Selena becomes the first Hispanic artist to have five charting titles on the Billboard 200 chart simultaneously.[25]
Selena posthumously wins four awards, becoming the biggest winner.[26] A tribute is held in honor of Selena.[27]
June 5-7: The sixth annual Billboard Latin Music conference took place.[28]
The second annual Billboard Latin Music Awards is also held on June 7. Selena becomes the most awarded artist of the award ceremony, receiving four award posthumously including Hot Latin Tracks Artist of the Year. She is also posthumously inducted into the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame.[29]
July 18: Dreaming of You, the crossover album Selena was working on at the time of her death, was released. On the day of its availability, 175,000 copies were sold in the U.S.—a record for a female vocalist—and 331,000 copies sold in its first week.[30][31] It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming the first predominately Spanish-language album to do so.[32][33][34]
November 24–26: ShowMarket holds the first trade fair in Barcelona, Spain to focus on Latin music and relations among the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking markets in Latin America, Europe, and the United States.[35]
^Keveney, Bill (March 26, 1996). "Howard Stern Returns, by Syndication to Hartford Station he left in 1980". Hartford Courant. Tribune Publishing Company. ProQuest255830990.
